Amy Coney Barrett

So Amy Coney Barrett’s Constitution “Originalism” Is Terrifying

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We’re in the second day of the Amy Coney Barrett hearings that shouldn’t be happening for the her Supreme Court nomination, and it’s just more terrifying shit over and over again. In today’s hearing, ACB decided to talk about the Constitution and what her job would be in regards to the Constitution while serving on the court.

And what’s so frightening about it is that Barrett, essentially, is saying that what worked in 1787 (when the Constitution was first ratified) should work for us now, which … is ironically the opposite of what the Founding Fathers believed at the time, as they thought the Constitution would be a living document that changed with the time.

So, by ACB’s logic, something written before women had the right to vote and only white men could own land is what we should uphold in its original intent today. 2020 Democratic primary contender and boy mayor Pete Buttigieg put the issue with that stance pretty concisely:

And we’re supposed to just be happy because she’s a woman with a large family, right?

What’s frightening about this is that there will be people in this world who think that she’s doing the right thing by America by “upholding the Constitution,” as if that’s what the Founding Fathers wanted. It’s not, and this “Originalist” ideal is actually harmful for the America that was dreamt of even back then by a bunch of racist, sexist white men.

We live in a world where there are people who want to take us back to the “good ol’ days” despite the fact that those “good times” were only that for a very specific group of people. So, Amy Coney Barrett is terrifying for a great many reasons. She’s no feminist, she doesn’t want to help America grow, she wants to take us back to the days of white power, and it’s f**king terrifying.

(image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Rachel Leishman
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Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.